Anthropological Theory recent issues

Where thought belongs: An anthropological critique of the project of philosophy

Jackson, M. D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:56:37 PST

Adorno, Arendt, Badiou, Derrida, Heidegger and Rorty have variously called for radically new conceptions of philosophy, but none has made a case for turning from the historical and genealogical past to the anthropological present. Taking the view that thought cannot escape the impress of a thinker’s immediate situation, this article invokes the phenomenological notions of lifeworld and lebensphilosophie to explore the social spaces where thought arises and transpires. Beginning with Hannah Arendt’s conception of thinking as grounded in the vita activa rather than the vita contemplativa, it is suggested that ethnographic method provides a compelling way of realizing her vision of thought as inextricably political and tied to events — expressions of the power relations between human subjects, and between private and public realms.

Hope dies last: Two aspects of hope in contemporary Moscow

Zigon, J. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:56:37 PST

The concept of hope has, for the most part, been neglected by anthropologists. Recently, however, hope has been analyzed by two prominent anthropologists who view it either as a passive attitude or a future-oriented stance toward a good. My research in Moscow, Russia, suggests that hope is not so easily conceived. In this article I suggest that hope is more precisely understood as having two aspects: persevering hope as the temporal structure of unreflective being-in-the-world, and active hope as the temporal orientation of intentional and ethical action. In exploring the ways in which my interlocutors describe hope, I critically engage not only conceptions of hope as passive, but also those that view it as utopian. The majority of my Muscovite interlocutors simply hoped for what they called ‘a normal life’ consisting of, for example, a family, a career, and stability. I suggest that such hoping demystifies the common understanding of hope as both passive and utopian and makes it available to anthropologists as a concept for understanding everyday human practices.

Technologies of the spirit: Devotional Islam, sound reproduction and the dialectics of mediation and immediacy in Mauritius

Eisenlohr, P. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:56:37 PST

Users of contemporary media technology in religious settings often oscillate between immediacy in spiritual interaction and the increasing complexity and visibility of media technology as human artifacts. Drawing on approaches to mediation from philosophy and media theory, I examine Mauritian Muslims’ uses of sound reproduction in performing a devotional genre to show how theological assumptions about mediation shape the domestication of media technology in religious settings in different ways. A semiotic approach can throw new light on the dialectics of mediation and immediacy that frequently result in searches for technical solutions to bypass established forms of interacting with the divine.

Non-hegemonic globalizations: Alter-native transnational processes and agents

Ribeiro, G. L. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:56:37 PST

Discussions on globalization tend to focus on processes commanded by powerful agents in a top-down perspective. In this article, I explore alter-native political and economic grassroots processes and agents as forms of non-hegemonic globalization. I analyze other political globalizations by considering the anti-globalization movement, and the alter-globalization initiatives represented by the World Social Forums. My arguments on economic globalization from below are based on the activities of ‘trader-tourists’, street vendors and markets of global gadgets or ‘pirated’ goods. I rely mostly on Brazilian and Paraguayan examples, but there are evidences of the existence of a veritable non-hegemonic world system. I want to call attention to other political and economic dynamics of globalization, a universe where the normative and repressive roles of nation-states are heavily bypassed.

On the Geopolitics of Identity

Chun, A. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:56:37 PST

The trope of identity has served in recent decades as a powerful construct in literary criticism, cultural studies, history, race and gender studies, invoking in turn identity politics of various genres. Despite its seemingly interdisciplinary usages and broad theoretical ramifications, the concept of identity has been conditioned by semantically flawed usages and provincial disciplinary assumptions, which have not only reified myopic fields and positions but also influenced the way we understand its presumed relevance to social relations and concrete institutional practices. I argue first of all that ethnicity, culture and identity are analytically distinct notions whose meaning and usage have been muddled in disciplinary practice. Identity’s relationship to ethnicity in particular is tied less to the putative existence of groups (or an assumed sameness) than to a notion of subjectivity that must be seen in the context of evolving social and political forces. These forces are more complexly nuanced than the way they have been used by theories of social construction or Bourdieuan practice prevalent in the literature. In sum, the pragmatics of identity is less a political contestation per se over ethnicity and culture than abstract struggles within these geopolitical processes.

The anthropology of global flows: A critical reading of Appadurai's `Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy'

Heyman, J. McC., Campbell, H. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:08:44 PDT

Arjun Appadurai's essay `Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy' popularized the idea of `global flows'. He argues that these flows are `disjunctive' and `chaotic' in character and that they supersede standard geographical thinking in social-cultural analysis. Appadurai's emphasis on disjuncture prioritizes ephemeral and shifting flows, thereby underestimating the relative power of capital and the interactions between different kinds of flows. Likewise, Appadurai's view of geography assumes that static units are the opposite of flows, whereas a processual geography understands how flows can create, reproduce, and transform geographic spaces. This alternative helps us understand global inequalities and boundaries better than Appadurai's does, and enables us to broach the topic of differentiated rights and treatments of mobile populations. The goal of a critical reading of this essay is not destructive; rather, we seek to construct a more powerful social-cultural anthropology of dynamic flows and mobilities.

What is context?: An ethnophilosophical account

Huen, C. W. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:08:44 PDT

This essay is an attempt to explore the ontology of context by elucidating its uses in the production of new knowledges out of the old. It is argued that some of the master concepts in anthropological discourse, to wit nature, culture, society and the individual, serve an important function of knowledge production by virtue of the ways they are deployed and emplotted as contexts to gather together, connect and reconstitute domains of data or phenomena. Drawing on the works of Marilyn Strathern and Roy Wagner, among others, two symbolic-metaphysical configurations of knowledge practices tentatively delineated as `Euro-American' and `Melanesian' are juxtaposed in order to make explicit particular modalities of contextualization. Some unexpected consequences, or predicaments, of our investment in making (explicit) partial connections as a privileged relational facility are then revealed; among them are the relativizing effects of a self-consciously universalizing epistemological strategy.

The effort of othering: The historical dialectic of local and national identity among the orignarios, 1950--2000

Lopez Caballero, P. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:08:44 PDT

Starting from the local variations of the way Nahuatl people of Milpa Alta, Mexico City, have been identified, the first aim of this article is to explore the relations between the construction of autochthonous identities and the formation and transformation of a national identity, a process I call the effect of othering. The second aim is to suggest that attention to the local processes of identification offers a key to an anthropology of the nation and the state which decenters it from the categories of its own discourse.

Contesting secularism/s: Secularism and Islam in the work of Talal Asad

Bangstad, S. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:08:44 PDT

This essay deals with the influential anthropological work of Prof. Talal Asad on Islam, secularism and the secular. I argue that the binary `Western—non-Western' which is constitutive for Asad, the relative absence of ethnography in Asad's work, and the state-centred nature of Asad's approach to secularism and the secular has contributed to an anthropological impasse whereby the complex engagement of Muslims living in secular and liberal `Western' contexts with the secular has become difficult to conceptualize. I argue in favour of the conceptualizations in a nascent body of works which transcend some of these binaries, most notably those of Marsden and Soares and Otayek, and in favour of investigating the secular as a vernacular practice.

Understanding anthropological understanding: For a merological anthropology

Zeitlyn, D. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:08:44 PDT

In this article I argue for a merological anthropology in which ideas of `partiality' and `practical adequacy' provide a way out of the impasse of relativism which is implied by postmodernism and the related abandonment of a concern with `truth'. Ideas such as `aptness' and `faithfulness' enable us to re-establish empirical foundations without having to espouse a simple realism which has been rightly criticized. Ideas taken from ethnomethodology, particularly the way we bootstrap from `practical adequacy' to `warrants for confidence', point to a merological anthropology in which we recognize that we do not and cannot know everything, but that we can have reasons for being confident in the little we know.

Why sociocultural anthropology needs John Dewey's evolutionary model of experience

Brereton, D. P. — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:08:05 PDT

This article identifies shortcomings in contemporary sociocultural anthropological theory, and proposes that John Dewey's evolutionary model of experience can begin to rectify them. Dewey's work foreshadowed many aspects of current critical realism, an alternative to both positivism and relativism/culturism, as laid out by philosopher Roy Bhaskar and utilized by social scientists such as Margaret Archer and Berth Danermark. Recent attention to experience in anthropology has largely overlooked Dewey's great contribution, the keystone of which is his grounding of experience in the nature of humanness as evolved in nature. I augment Dewey's model by explicating 12 trans-cultural features of experience.

The political dimensions of coexistence

Gagne, N. — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:08:05 PDT

This article was written partly in response to the denunciation by social scientists, in recent years, of the essentialism of indigenous elites. It looks at the multiple and dialogically interconnected factors that have contributed to the present-day essentialist tendencies among indigenous peoples and particularly among indigenous leaders, taking the Maaori of New Zealand as a case study. The article shows that the `problems' as well as the solutions relating to coexistence between Maaori and non-Maaori in New Zealand are mainly political, a fact that is often underestimated or minimized by social scientists and which seems relevant in rethinking many other cases of coexistence within nation-states around the world. The discussion is in part based on an article by Elizabeth Rata titled `Rethinking Biculturalism' (2005), in which she examines the shifting meanings of biculturalism in New Zealand that have implied an ethnicization and essentialization of Maaori identity and politics.

Hating Israel in the Field: On ethnography and political emotions

Hage, G. — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:08:05 PDT

This article chronicles the beginning of my fieldwork among Lebanese Shi'a in South Lebanon and in the diaspora. The fieldwork coincided with Israel's 2006 bombardment of Lebanon that destroyed its only just rebuilt infrastructure, killed more than 1000 civilians and left behind in agricultural areas and villages thousands of unexploded cluster bombs. The village where I was preparing to do my fieldwork was destroyed and my prospective key informant was killed. The scene among the South Lebanese Shi'a immigrants in Sydney became one of generalized mourning. There was an overwhelming feeling of anger and hatred towards Israel. In this article, I scrutinize the ambivalence emanating from sharing `political emotions' with my informants. I argue that such a situation generates another set of emotions that are specific to ethnographic practice that I call, borrowing from Spinoza, `ethnographic vacillation'.

Displacing the subject: A dialogical understanding of the researching self

Hayden, B. — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:08:05 PDT

Dialogical epistemologies of the self have been influential in rethinking the politics of ethnography. Although critiquing the centered Cartesian self as the locus of knowledge, these approaches focus attention on the researcher and assume the primacy of the self-knowing subject. This article draws on Peirce's argument that `man' is a sign to supplement critical theories of knowledge. Although Peirce focused on the semiosis of consciousness, we can apply his interpretive framework to think about other interpretants of the researching sign, the discourses that shape the meanings of the self as sign, and the hazards of the ethnographic encounter.

Cosmopolitanization and localization: Ethnicity, class and citizenship among the Chinese of French Polynesia

Tremon, A.-C. — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:08:05 PDT

In the interest of contributing to the study of the Chinese diaspora as well as identity formation in Pacific societies, this article examines the historical transformation of Chinese identification in a French colony that has been turned into a French Overseas Territory. Identification consists in individual positioning within a field that is shaped by the changing configuration of global relations. I explain how this leads to a differential structuring of Chinese identifications between a `local' and a `cosmopolitan' pole. Instead of assuming that the descendants of Chinese migrants constitute a homogeneous entity, it is their differing identifications that are brought to the fore. I examine the conditions of possibility that might account for the sense of belonging to a `Chinese diaspora', and its relation to the maintenance of the ethnic Chinese category in French Polynesia. I stress the importance of observing the role ethnic categorization plays in this longue durée persistence.

Should anthropology be moral? A debate

Fassin, D., Stoczkowski, W. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

Beyond good and evil?: Questioning the anthropological discomfort with morals

Fassin, D. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

There is a paradox with morals in anthropology: on the one hand, morals are not considered as a legitimate object of study and are looked upon with suspicion; on the other hand, there is an increasing concern for moral issues both in society and within the discipline. Basing my analysis on several empirical studies which I briefly evoke, I call for the development of a moral anthropology. This does not mean that anthropologists should become moralists but that they should study morals as they do politics, religion or medicine. I discuss the two reasons, epistemological and historical, why anthropologists have been reluctant to enter this field of research. I analyse the ambiguities and risks which are effectively inherent to this particular domain. I conclude with two propositions and their two corollaries in favour of moral anthropology, but insist on the heuristic value of the intellectual discomfort aroused by morals among anthropologists.

The 'fourth aim' of anthropology: Between knowledge and ethics

Stoczkowski, W. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

Any anthropological research mobilizes an axiological system, composed at once of moral values and epistemological values. Starting from the example of my first fieldwork among officers of the secret political police in Poland under marshal law in 1982—3, and subsequently examining several types of moral agendas in anthropology (as a science of moral reform in E.B. Tylor; as a salutary revelation of social mechanics in E. Durkheim; as a lesson of ethics in C. Lévi-Strauss; as an expedient for raising the moral standard of colonial action in M. Delafosse; 'applied anthropology' as a science useful in the struggle against totalitarian regimes during the Second World War and the Cold War; as cultural criticism in 1970—1980; 'moral anthropology' as a way of defending the rights of the oppressed in the 1990s), I stress some potentially negative consequences of moral stances in anthropology, insofar as values of ethical commitment may come into conflict with epistemological values. In conclusion, I plead for an anthropology able to objectify its own moral agenda and to grasp its epistemological impact on scholarly representations we aspire to produce.

Reassembling individual subjects: Events and decisions in troubled times

Humphrey, C. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

The troubled times in which many anthropologists work require the conceptualization of singular analytical subjects: individual actors who are constituted as subjects in particular circumstances. The difficulty of this task lies in the fact that 'the death of the subject' has been convincingly argued for in so many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Yet several deconstructivist philosophers have also proposed ideas that reassemble the subject, and this article discusses the work of Alain Badiou. Badiou defines the subject as one who recognizes the truth of a great historical event, but it is suggested here that anthropologists need a rather different theory capable of analysing individuals in more mundane circumstances. Here truth is not the issue, but fixing, if only temporarily, on 'who I am'. Debating with depictions of persons as actor-networks (Latour) or changing effects of perspectival relations (Strathern), it is argued that 'decision events' are occasions when the multiple strands of personhood achieve unity and singularity.

Who is a Christian?: Toward a dialogic approach in the anthropology of Christianity

Garriott, W., O'Neill, K. L. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

This article aims to contribute to the continued formation of an anthropology of Christianity. We argue that anthropologists should adopt a more dialogic approach to the anthropological study of Christianity, one that shifts the concern from the problems posed by Christianity to anthropology, to the problems posed by Christianity to Christians themselves. In particular, we argue that the problem of determining who and what counts as a Christian is not a strictly anthropological problem, but is a potent source of debate within Christian communities. Attending to such debate offers a window into what is at stake in the lives of Christians themselves, and thus has the capacity to provide a non-essentializing foundation for the anthropology of Christianity as a comparative project. We begin with a review of recent anthropological literature and conclude with a set of ethnographic illustrations that show the import of such a shift for future research.

Rethinking time's arrow: Bergson, Deleuze and the anthropology of time

Hodges, M. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

Since the early 1970s, time has come to the fore as a constitutive element of social analysis in the guise of what I term here 'fluid time'. Anthropologists of multiple theoretical persuasions now take for granted that social life exists in 'time', 'flow', or 'flux', and this temporal ontology is commonly accepted as a universal, if habitually unquestioned, attribute of human experience. Similarly, it underpins today's dominant paradigm of 'processual' analysis, in its many forms. Yet this concept is notably under-theorized, in keeping with a history of uneven study by social scientists of time. In this article I draw on anthropological approaches by Gell and Munn, and philosophical work by Bergson and Deleuze, to put forward a critical theorization. I then discuss its ramifications. Ultimately, I argue that this model points to a rapprochement between the anthropological study of time and history, sociality and temporality, and an enhanced role for temporal analysis in anthropological theory.

Symbolic valorization in the culture of entertainment: The example of legal drug use

Stromberg, P. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:43:39 PST

Durkheim argued that a society's central ideals are valorized through a process of emotional transfer that occurs as the excitement of intensive interaction comes to be associated with key symbols. In this article, I argue that a very similar process may occur in contemporary society as people interact with, and become deeply engaged in, the practices of entertainment and consumption. The argument is based upon a single example, routines of early phase legal drug consumption among college students. Legal drug use, like many forms of entertainment and discretionary consumption in contemporary American society, can in some cases be understood as a form of play. Often participants become caught up in their play, so preoccupied with the fictional world of the play that the cognitive and emotional salience of the day-to-day world begins to fade. Here I argue that for some beginning users of alcohol and tobacco, becoming caught up in this way enhances users' convictions about the capacity of the drug to produce strong transformative experiences and thereby valorizes the cultural conception of the drug as a substance that can override the ability of the person to direct his or her own action. I conclude by suggesting that becoming caught up in the fictions of play is a practice that may have relevance for understanding the effects of a broad range of activities that we classify as entertainment and consumption.